Maple-lime yogurt sauce

I love a hot breakfast. During the week we rely on homemade muffins and oatcakes stashed in the freezer, and oatmeal cooked on the stovetop or in the slow cooker (the recipes for which I will eventually post). But on the weekends I like to make something that I wouldn’t have time to do during the week. Something that has us lingering around the table in our pajamas and feeling the sheer joy of a leisurely Saturday morning.

Broadly speaking, our options fall into two categories: a savory protein (like quiche or another egg dish) or something sweet and starchy. If I’m feeling like the latter and I have some slightly stale bread lying around, I make French toast. If not, it’s pancakes. Whole wheat pancakes, using my Dad’s recipe, are my favorite. I (practically) won’t eat any other kind. I make a big batch of the dry ingredients so it’s as easy as that store-bought stuff in the yellow box (or plastic jug made for easy pouring, heaven help us). My pancakes are cheap, easy, delicious, healthy… so what’s not to like?

Well, pancakes aren’t an especially balanced meal. In an ideal world I would serve them along side eggs and fruit. But most days I’ll settle for simply reducing the amount of sugar we pour on top of them (in my house they border on being nothing more than a syrup delivery mechanism). You see, I love my pancakes swimming in (Vermont) maple syrup. But I don’t love the sugar crash, munchies or guilt that plague me afterwards (whether it’s me or my son who’s slurping down the brown gold).

Over the years I’ve developed a few alternatives that satisfy the urge to drown my pancakes, without the aforementioned downsides. Some of them are fruit-based sauces like this one. Another is a yogurt sauce. It requires just 3 ingredients and 2 minutes, tops. It’s refreshing and adds a small, but much needed hit of protein to a plain (or pumpkin) pancake breakfast and has WAY less sugar than plain syrup.

The sauce also goes really well with fruit. A few years ago I served it at a baby shower with fruit kabobs. But you can keep it simple, too. Dress up a plain fruit salad, dunk some berries in it, or simply pour it over some melon slices while standing at the sink and pop them in your mouth. It’s really good. Trust me, I’ve tried it. (And btw, the fruit is optional.)

Recipe
Time: 2 minutes
Yield: 1 ¼ cups. How many servings? You be the judge.

2. Use as a dressing for fruit salad, dip for cut fruit, topping for pancakes or French toast, or drink straight from the bottle. (Believe me, you’ll want to.)

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*I like Blender bottles for measuring, whisking and dispensing all in one. They are one of two items I have ever purchased from an infomercial (sick day, I was weak). But I never regretted it. No need to watch the late-night sales pitch. Blender bottles are sold all over the place, including Amazon.

Disclaimer: These are affiliated links. If you choose to purchase through this link I will receive a very small commission which helps to support this blog. Thanks! That said, the recommendation is mine alone. I really do use and love these things. Do you see the wear and tear on that sucker? I use them for cloth diapering, too, but more on that another time.